Ye Olde School Café: Marvel Two-in-One #23

Welcome back to another fantastic week, right here in Ye Olde School Café! In this installment, we’ll be finishing our look at the two part story with Thor, The Thing, and their battle with the undead spirits that are under the sway of Seth, god of the dead! There is no margin for error for these two heroes, so let us continue our adventure to see their fate….

As the minions of Seth attack Ben and Thor, he towers over them, laughing at their plight. Thor and The Thing struggle to fend off the skeleton army that attacks them furiously (a la Ray Harryhausen’s “Jason and the Argonauts“). The mighty hammer of Thor and Ben Grimm’s fists provide an answer, but then Seth creates a maelstrom and the combatants are whisked away. In an instant, they appear to have traveled to an unearthly plane, where Seth wishes to fight both of them. Thor boasts of Seth’s last defeat at the hands of Thor himself and his brother, Horus. Seth laughs, then points to his defeated brother, hanging by mystic chains over a fire.

Thor is in shock, and cannot believe it. As the two heroes gaze in disbelief, Seth hypnotizes Grimm, but Thor blasts him with a bolt of energy from Mjolnir, and it sets him free. Grimm then punches Seth in the face, and he wobbles to the ground. Thor notices that the bridge they are fighting on begins to tremble, and as Osiris and Isis look on, we see that a monstrosity called “The Devourer” has been unleashed by Seth, and its size alone makes everyone present gasp!

The beast attempts to grab Horus to kill him, but Thor throws Mjolnir at him, and it gets his attention. Both men try their best, but they seem helpless against this behemoth. As they battle against impossible odds, Seth is boasting about himself and his apparent victory. This doesn’t impress the beast, though, and it tail whips him on his backside. Seth realizes that the beast is uncontrollable, and Osiris and Isis agree. He then remembers that his brother, Horus, is the one who trapped the beast eons ago, so he frees him, and restores his power in order to gain his help.

The Devourer knocks Grimm through a wall, and almost crushes Thor in his grip, and then sends him onto the floor with a mighty toss. The gods and Grimm are at a loss for a plan, but the blue eyed Thing never gives up without a fight! He realizes that the Devourer wants to kill Horus at any cost, so he grabs him and throws him over his back, and begins to run away. The Devourer chases him, but then Grimm jumps off of the bridge, heading for the emptiness of time and space. The Devourer follows, but Thor throws his mighty hammer, and as we all know, it returns to his grasp at his command. Once it reaches Grimm and Horus, he calls back his hammer, and Grimm grabs on for a free ride back!

Later, after all is said and done, Horus thanks the heroes for their help, and they are on their way back to Earth. As they return, Don Blake has returned, and he tells Johnny and Ben that he’ll try to save the life of Blacksun.

Well, that’s it for this week! You know something, books like this are exactly why I feel the Bronze Age (1976 & 1977 for this story) is best. Sure, there are good books from every era (some more than others), but the grandeur and overall altruistic nature of the stories during that time period are unrivaled! A time where gods and heroes fought giant world devouring beasts in an afternoon! Credits include Bill Mantlo and Jim Shooter (writers), Ron Wilson and Marie Severin (pencils), Pablo Marcos (inker), John Costanza (letters), Hugh Paley (colors), and editor Archie Goodwin!